…would be my reaction to this IESB rumor story about the “full” scope of Christopher Nolan’s “shepherding” of future DC Comics superhero movies: http://iesb.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8514:iesb-exclusive-big-plans-for-superman-batman-a-co&catid=43:exclusive-features&Itemid=73

Short version of the rumor(s), in general order:

1.) Nolan directs “Batman 3” and produces the Superman non-sequel/no-reboot currently being called “The Man of Steel.”

2.) Nolan’s brother Johnathan and good-buddy David Goyer are writing both the Batman and Superman films, with an eye on Johnathan Nolan making “Man of Steel” HIS directorial debut.

3.) In addition, Christopher Nolan is ALSO “in charge” (in some capacity, at least) of the currently fast-tracked “Flash” and “Green Lantern” movies, along with the other DC “mainline” hero projects yet to be set up (Wonder Woman? Aquaman?) with an eye on cross-franchise synergy leading up to…

4.) …A franchise-unifying “Justice League” team-up movie to be directed by Nolan AFTER Batman 3 and Superman have come out.

…uh-huh.

From where I sit, this all makes a little too much sense to be true. See, people tend to forget that the DC characters are in a different situation than the Marvel guys, where the rights are spread among different studios and Marvel is only able to try the current “Avengers” experiment because they’re doing it in-house. DC, on the other hand, is owned lock, stock and barrel by Warner Bros… ALL of it. In other words, the only reason you see or don’t see ANY DC movie is because someone at WB simply said yes or no. They’ve been capable of greenlighting a Justice League movie, a series of crossovers, a Martian Manhunter rom-com, ANYTHING for decades now and have never managed to get their shit together in all that time. The Nolan bros. have a big Dark Knight shaped dick to swing around in Hollywood right now, sure, but I have a hard time believing that even having the current God of Fanboy Reassurance onhand to bless things is enough to suddenly kick everything so completely into place.

Even still, I’d be more “intrigued” to see this work than excited. If the follow-up to TDK, Superman, Flash and the rest are now supposed to be living in the same universe… how exactly does that work? Will the Nolans risk hacking off all the folks who’ve come to worship “Knight’s” steadfast commitment to “gritty realism” by suddenly having “that” Batman hanging out with aliens, speedsters and Amazonian princesses? Or will it be everyone ELSE who has to get refitted into Batman’s world – i.e. will they ALL be sporting underwhelming black robo-armor and chronic laringitis?